Sathoff ?attempts to hoodwink public?

To the editor:

Why does it seem that when it comes to the topic of the future of the high school building, that we only get part of the facts and even those are cherry picked to support the position of a new high school? Superintendent Art Sathoff recently was quoted in the paper of saying that ?it is not uncommon to find high school space of more than 223 feet per pupil? [?Debate on high school facility begins anew,? Dec. 6]. Yet just a bit later he stated that the median square feet for schools that average 1,600 students is 156.3 square feet per student. What he didn?t say is that the same publication (2010 School Construction Report) says that for a newly built high school averaging 700 students (92 student more than we have in our high school), the average square feet per student is 125. Also not mentioned was that our current high school has 78,101 square feet and 608 current students or 128 square feet per student. We are right at average with our current building! That same publication says that the 223 square feet per pupil figure that Sathoff said is ?not uncommon? actually refers to the top 10 percent of newly built high schools in the entire nation with an average of 2500 students! Doesn?t sound to me like a very good comparison to our situation and it appears once again, the superintendent of our school system is attempting to hoodwink the public.

? Travis Henderson, Fairfield